Born in 1899 in St. Gallen, Charles Hug soon moved to the art metropolises of Europe. In Berlin, he was friends with Käthe Kollwitz, and in Paris, where he lived from 1926, he came into contact with the Old Masters as well as modern artists: Picasso, Matisse, Rouault, Cézanne. These are influential and style-defining names in Hug's life. Portraits, images of clowns, horse races, and landscapes – he largely remained true to these themes throughout his entire body of work. However, he found his own way to engage with the legacy of the great French artists, and his first successes soon followed. His paintings were purchased, portrait commissions came his way, and his works were exhibited in Paris and New York. Just one day before the opening of his first solo exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zurich – on May 7, 1979 – Charles Hug passed away at the age of nearly 80. Charles Hug was active right in the heart of Paris.